The City of Rhinelander will apply for a Community Development Investment grant to help with the redevelopment of a building at 123 Rives Street.
At this week's common council meeting, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation(WEDC) regional representative Jim Rosenberg said the person who developed the building that houses Tilly's coffee shop downtown would like to upgrade the building adjoining that building.
Rosenberg says $358,000 would be spent on the upgrade that would include upstairs apartments and downstairs retail.
"The proposal is for the city to apply for a $75,000 Community Development Investment Grant. Also, for the city, I'd like you to consider for the city make a $25,000 contribution from the Tax Increment district..."
Rosenberg says the grant and contribution makes it more attractive for the developer to move forward with the project. He says WEDC is limited to 25 percent of the project cost. He says that tax incremental financing district ends in 2030 and he's confident the city will get it's money back by that time...
"If we end up with say, $400,000 in taxable value, we'll be able to recover that $25,000 within that 10 year period certainly.."
A TIF district uses the real estate tax money within a given area going into a pot that is used for future development. After a closed session, the council agreed to support the city's portion, based upon the completion of an acceptable developer's agreement.
In other action, the council agreed to continue the contract of administrative consultant Zach Vruwink at $2,200 a week through June 30.
